James h



l.l H. DALBEY.

HESILIENT CORE FOR TIRE APPLICATION mm APR. I6, 1.920.

Patented Sept. 7, 1920.

UNITEDLSTATES PATENT OFFICE.

JAMES'H. DALBEY, or Eiern; ILLIIvoIsgAsSIGNoRTo E'LGIN RUBBER Aon COMPANY or nLeIIv, IztIiIivoIsh conroimrjioivor ILLINOIS.

misimnivfr comi ron TIRES.

To (zZ/l whom, t may concern) n, u

Be it known that I, JAMES H. DALBEY, a

citizen of the United States, and resident of Elgin, in the county of Kane and yState of lllinoisa have invented certain new and yuseful Improvements in Resilient Coresifor' core made ofy a main circumferentialbody which shall'be capable of being changed in its transverse area to lit lcasings of different sizes and a second circumferential member of relatively small cross rsection for use with the main body portion, the second member being capable of being replaced by other similar members of similar shape but different sizes, as 'may be necessary, to cause the core as a whole to lit the desired casing.

rl`he resilient core'` of this invention is. adapted to replace an air tube and theair of a pneumatic tire and thus avoid the obf jectionable features of 'a pneumatic tire, y

while vat the same time providing a" tire which retainssubstantially all ofthe desirable features relative to resiliencyand ease of riding of such tires.

My invention resides km a resilient tire: core made of spongy rubber or otherlike or suitable substance and comprising a bodyy having a cross section approximately the interior shape and kdimension vof the casing to be filled and having a wedge shaped circum- ,I ferential slot or groove entering into auf enlarged vinner, circular opening, ,andan auxiliary ring member adapted to `lill said l, slot andopening and hold the main body' expanded to fit the casing.

An important feature lof my invention relates tothe reduction in capital tied up by the seller of such cores/as ya relatively few of the-main cores of standard dimensions need to bev carried-'in stock, with ay selection 'of various sizes'of auxiliary members in.y order to meet substantially any need which ,may arise as to the V,filling ofivarious .Sized casings. Once a casing has-been filledV and" placed upon a suitable rim, the tire as a( whole is substantially permanent and will` last, in. its form as produced, until the cas-V My invention will be more readily'understood by reference to the laccompanying drawing forming part of this specification,

and in whichn away,

ofone ofthe main corefmembers or ftifo'nal View of the main' core member on the .hneQ-Qyof Fig. l;

H F'g. 3 is aside elevation of the auxiliary core member;

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary perspective sectional view ofthe auxiliary 'core member onthe line 4-4 of Fig. 3 and;

y "Figi-5 isa fragmentary, perspective, cross sectional view fof a tire casing fitted with a .core and mounted upon a suitable tire rim and embodying imy invention. In said drawings, l represent a tire casing from which'it ist desired to eliminate the f air tube with its attendantditliculties.

The casing is' mounted for use upon a tire frim 2 vwhich is shown as being the ordinary ,clenchertypethough obviously it could be.v of the well 'known straight side Dunlap type y aswell. i y i y i `I providea yielding core I3 for the casing ywhich kI preferably make of spongy rubber o r some similar yielding yor resilient substance.

Thejcore as Va lwhole is made enough Y larger than the' opening in the casing so that when the casing isclamped upon the tire rim 2 with the core 3 within it thc cas ing willbe supported with suflicient rigidity to properly sustain the load to which it yis to be subjected. Y i

The core,- when compressedV within the casing takes the shape of the interior of the casing and completely fills same'.

y It is vfound in .practice that tire casings of different makes, as well vas those of the same make, vary as to internalv dimensions,

It is'this difficulty as to the preparation of cores with which to fill the casings, or

as to filling casings ofvarious makes as a Figure l is a side elevation,I partly broken i K Specification of Letters Patent. Patented Sept 7, 1920 f Applicationkinii Apri-1 16, 1920. seriai no. 374,313. y

'particularly as to transverse!cross-sectional area, evenamong Casin-gs which are supposed to'be the same size. 105

wmember 5.

I make the main member 4 easily adjustable as yto cross-sectional dimension by providing a circumferential groove or slot 6 therein. Preferably this groove takes the shape, best shown in Fig. 2, of an opening extending around the periphery of the main core 4 which is wedgeshaped having Sides 7 which iiare outwardly from the interior of the core through the inner surface Vthereof and which opening merges into an enlarged circumferential opening S which may be substantially circular in cross-sectional shape as shown. The diameter of the central opening S is preferably larger than the inner end9 of the wedge-shapedopening 6, the complete opening consisting of the wedge-shaped opening 6 and the inner opening 8 together forming a keyhole-sliaped opening which permits the two sides l0 of the core member 4 to be spread apart to enlarge the crosssectional ai'ea of the core or to be squeezed toward each other to diminish the cross sectional area thereof.

W'hile the main core 4, as thus 'constructed, can readily be spread or contracted, I preferably, in practice, make it to fit or lill, in combination with the larg- 'est sized wedging ring, the largest size of casing to which it is to be applied and I provide smaller wedging rings for use with it to properly lill casings of smaller cross sectional area. In other words, I preferably conipress instead of expand the main core member.

For retaining the mainv body3 with the sides l0 distended or spread apart the requiredvdistance to cause the core as a whole to properly fill the casing to which it is to beapplied, I provide a series of thevauxiliary fillers 5 which vary in cross sectional dimensions particularly in the wedge-shaped portion ll thereof, as shown in .full and dotted lines in F ig. 4.

In preparing a core for filling a specific casing, the dimensions of which are known, such as Ya 32x4 of a certain make, a' 32x4 main core member 4 is selected and one of the auxiliary Iiller rings 5 is selected which will in -combination with the core member 4 produce a core suitable for therspeciiic casing. A

The auxiliary filler ring is then inserted into the main body 4 of the two sides 10 of the main core being spread apart to permit the head 12 of the auxiliary member to be pushed into the inner opening 8 of the main core member. lThen the core as a whole is` placed within the casing and the casingris mounted on the tire rim 2. Some,- times it is more convenient to place the main core member 4 in the casing first and after- Ward spread the device apart and insert the proper@ wedging auxiliary ,member 5. any event the mounting ofthe casing upon InV the tire rim 2 tightly compresses the core as a whole and produces pressure enough upon same to provide suiiicient rigidity to properly sustain the load.

In Figs. l and 3 I have shown cuts 13 and I4 respectively, illustrating that both the main core 4 and the auxiliary member 5 may be cut at one point and that they can readily be changed as to circumferential dimensions, to be used in casings of various sizes.

As many modifications of my invention will readily suggest themselves to one skilled in the art, I do not limit or confine my invention to the Vspecific structures herein shown and described except within the scope of the appended claims.

I claim:

l. A resilient tire core comprising a main ring-like core member and an auxiliary member, the main member being substantially circular in cross section and having a circumferential wedge-shaped slot or opening terminating at its inner part in an enlarged circumferential opening, the auxiliary member having a wedge'shaped body and an enlaiged section at the point of the wedge adapted in combination with the `main body to complete a core free of any open spaces, substantially as described.V

2. A resilient tire core comprising a main core member capable of .being transversely expanded to lit different sized casings, a circumferential wedging member for expanding the main body, and cooperating shouldered parts on the two members for locking the wedging member against movement relatively totlie main member, substantially as described.

3. A resilient tire core comprising a main ring core member having a keyliole-sliaped slot or groove extending circumferentially around the ring, and an auxiliary member of like section adapted to completely fill the groove, substantially as described.

4. A resilient tire core comprising a main ring Vmember having a keyhole-shaped circumferential slot or groove having liared sides, and an auxiliary member of like crossy section for filling the groove and adapted to ie held against movement relatively tothe main member, and in accordance 'with the dimensions of the auxiliary member making the core larger or smaller in ltransverse crosssectional area as and for the purposespecified.

5. Means for filling aselected'tire 'casing with a resilient core which comprises a main A core ring of substantially the cross-sectional area of the casing,'a1id having a lkeyholeshaped circumferential slot having flared sides, a wedging ring adaptedY 'torfillsaidslot and liavingra head portion for retaining the Y wedgingring in position, wedging rings of various dimensions being provided whereby comprising a composite corelof resilient materi al 'for completely filling a tire easing and consisting of a main ring iiller member having a ivedging slot in its inner side terminat ing in an enlarged substantially y'Central opening, and an auxiliary filler member 0f a cross sectional shape to completely lill the slot and central opening in the main member.

7. The herein described system of filling tire casings With resilient lillers,gwhieh eonsists in providing main ring filler members of substantiallytlie size and dimensions of the easings to be filled, andfprovided With i key-hole shaped slots at their inner peripheries having flared sides, and providing a series of auxiliary iller rings for placement in and to lill said slots,' the auxiliary fillers having diii'erent dimensions so that a ller suitable for a selected easing can be used for completely ifilling the easing.

Signed at Elgin, Illinois, this 12th day of April i920.

JAMES H.l DALBEY. 

